Spray Painter's Mystery Mark Puzzles, Scares Bridgeport Homeowner

BRIDGEPORT — A mysterious case of vandalism caught on camera has shaken up a Bridgeport family.

The footage shows a beat-up red pickup truck cruising through an alley Jan. 8 between 28th Place and 29th Street and Canal Street and Normal Avenue. A man hops out of the driver's seat, walks to the garage and uses spray paint to mark the door before he calmly returns to the truck and drives away.

Was he marking the house for future mayhem? Flagging fellow garbage pickers to a potential lucrative haul? Alerting ne'er-do-wells to the security camera?

What, exactly, was this guy doing?

No one knows for sure, and that’s what has the homeowner — a 41-year-old man who asked not to be identified — more than a little freaked out.

The footage comes courtesy of a high-tech, motion-activated security system that, when triggered, emails its owner a few snapshots instantly.

In this case, the truck rolled up just moments after the man’s wife and daughter returned from an afternoon shopping trip.

“Looking at my email, I’m like ‘Oh my God,’ somebody’s marking my garage. I didn’t realize the door had just literally touched the ground as this guy pulled up,” he said.

After filing a police report, he posted the clip to EveryBlock and YouTube (where it's gotten more than 2,000 views) — in the hopes that someone recognizes the truck or its driver.

He’s considered printing out screenshots of the incident and taping them to the garage — just to let this guy know he’s being watched.

“I’m not paranoid,” he said. “I think he’s marking it do something later.”